Chair



nitrd Statua gaat aan.

ALEXANDER W. STEWART, Ol? BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Leners Patent No. 102,178,11ataz April 19, 1870.

.IMPROVED FOLDIN 'CHAIR The Schedule xefen'ed to in thele Letters Patentand making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern in the art to practice it.

My improved chair is, in some respects, like a folding chair shown inUnited States Patent No. 41,001, granted to P. J. Hardy, December '22,1863, in that, both in said Hardys chair and mine, the seat tips up atthe back as the chair is folded, bringing the top 'of the seat to thefront, and in that theextended seat in such chair is supported at itsfront upon struts or braces, or a strut or brace-supported bar, thefolding movement of the chair carrying these braces into the planeassumed by the pivoted frames and seat.

My improvement consists primarily in pivoting to the front legs of achair having a falling seat, and below the pins by which the crossinglegs are pivoted t0- gether, a seat-supporting frame or braces connectedto and operated by the legs of the chair.

The drawings represent a. chair embodying my iml provements.

A shows a side elevation of the open chair.

B, a front elevation of it.

.C is avertical section of the foldedV chair.

As the invention relates wholly to the arrangemen and connection of theparts with reference to obtaining the requisite strength in `the openchair, and compact'ness in the folded chair, no upholstery is shown uponthe frame.

The two crossing legs a b a" b' oneach side of the chair are shown aspivoted. together at c, and the legs a a', a bottom stretcher, d, anda-top stretcher, e, constitute a rigid quadrangnlar frame, in which theseat fis hung by pivot-pins g, the preponderence of weight being infront of the pivots, so that `the seat freely drops into,'or nearlyinto,A a plane with-the flame when the legs are folded? llhe legs bpb'constitute, with one or more stretchers, i, below the pivots, anotherframe, these legs beingpivotcd outside of and t0 the legs a a.

To support the sea-t in horizontal position two movable braces, k, areused, each brace extending from the legs under the seat, and rmlysupporting the seat under any weight upon it. v

To automatically remove these braces, for folding the chair, each isjointed to theadjaeent leg, as seen at Land at-or near the upper end ofeach brace I connect it to a lever or arm, preferably worked by theother" legs, which lever or arm, as. the legs close together, swings theblaces inward, bringing them into, or nearly into, vertical line withthe legs to which they are pivoted, and out of the path of tipping-downmovement of the seat.

The brace-actuating levers are shown atm, each being fulerumed to theadjacent leg a, or a', and having its front arm provided with a fingeror pin that enters a groove, n, in the side ofthe brace. The rear arm ofthe lever extends through an eye or loop, o, in a rail, 1J, connectingthe legs b b', and, as the legs b'b' are lnoved into line with the legsa a', the rail and the legs to which the braces are pivoted force downthe rear arms of the levers, and the front ends rearward, therebybringing the braces into line with the legs.

When the legs are spread, the eyes or loops draw up the rear arms of thelevers, `thus throwing forward their front arms and pushing out thebraces, which, in their outward movement,4 tilt up the seat intohorizontal position, and themselves assumea position to firmly suppoitthe seat.

Undne spreading of the legs may be prevented by hooks q, on the rearends of the levers, catching upon the eyes or loops o.

I claim- In combination with the crossing pivoted legs and with adropping seat, the' seat-supporting braces pivoted-to the legs a a', andthrown out under the front of the seat when the legs are spread, andback into the plane of the legs when 4thev chair is folded,substantially as described.

ALEXR. W'. STEWART.

'Witnesses J. B. CROSBY, FRANCIS GoULD.

